kgreenhough: Guys, it's time for some tough love. This lens but the latest symptom of the disease that breeds when photographers spend too much time with other photographers. You are lying to yourself if you think that the "unique characteristics" produced by these lenses are anything but ugly. A quirky, overpriced paperweight is not going to set your work apart in any way.

Many things are sold simply because they are different, not because they are better. You can call it 'bored photographer phenomenon.'

Does the shutter fire four times in the pixel shift mode? Did you notice shutter shock related to that? Does the electronic shutter work in this mode?

Also since it takes four exposures per image to complete the shift, the effective ISO is four times lower than for a single exposure. I wonder if Pentax reporting ISO per image (i.e. full exposure) or per individual shift. Or do they instead report shutter speeds per full capture or per single shift?

carlg10013: It would be a shame if someone considering the FZ1000 is dissuaded by this review. I'm a veteran photojournalist who uses it extensively for stills and video for about 70% of shooting that formerly would have required a DSLR. And the fully articulated LCD, not available on the RX10 III, is a huge plus with video. The camera is a gem!

So, do you have a separate monitor or a TV in a portrait orientation to look at the pictures in vertical orientation? Or are you one of those who like to look at small pictures on a large screen monitor mostly filled with black or white color?

God gave us two eyes and wide screen monitors for a purpose. Think about that!

carlg10013: It would be a shame if someone considering the FZ1000 is dissuaded by this review. I'm a veteran photojournalist who uses it extensively for stills and video for about 70% of shooting that formerly would have required a DSLR. And the fully articulated LCD, not available on the RX10 III, is a huge plus with video. The camera is a gem!

I don't know why anybody would want articulating LCD, I had Panasonic before and it's a nuisance. So much so that I don't want any other camera with an articulating LCD. Sony tilting LCD is much more convenient.

More and more businesses realize that paying for the ads in Google, Fakebook, social media sites is mostly a waste.

The game becomes more convoluted though, when a company owns directly or indirectly a big part of the advertisement company. Then it's mostly paying to itself for ads while boosting popularity and trying to sign in as many suckers as possible.

Browsing through those pictures I caught myself thinking, why am I wasting my time? -- they look just like any other random snapshots from any other camera. What am I supposed to glean from those photos?

aftab: Few months ago a Canon executive stated that by the end of 2016 they want to be #2 in mirrorless market and #1 in 2017. As per some estimates they are currently #3. Their strategy seem to be making small, optically good and cheap/affordable lenses to lure and hook people in M system. Once they have done so, they can make more expensive lenses (and cameras) later. 35mm/1.8 is rumored for later this year. If nothing else, this lens indicates that Canon is serious about their plan to make M system a success. Like many, this lens has made me interested in M system for the first time. I will probably wait for M4 and another smallish prime (around 85mm equivalent). 22/2 pancake, 28/3.5 and a longer prime would be excellent to carry for travelling and for many other situations.

The M system is a dead end as it tries to compete with cell phones -- a battle which is impossible to win.

If Canon wants to be #anything in mirrorless they need to think about a compact FF system.

donsdavid: The original 1DX renders the nicest skin tone colors. No other camera that I've tried came close to it. Pentax lent me a Pentax 645Z for a week but I didn't like the colors it produced. It didn't work well with the data from my Sekonic C-700R. When shooting outside the studio, I usually do not get a chance to deploy a colorcheckr.

forpetessake: I have a feeling, Samyang is not an outlier and the other manufacturers will follow the suit. Sony fe-mount is going to dominate the market, they only need a cheaper FF model for masses under $1000. Affordable body and lenses will quickly capture the market. Canon and Nikon are risking to become third party lens manufacturers. The crop sensor cameras are also going the way of Dodo, so developing new APS-C lenses makes little sense. It makes sense for Sigma, Tamron, Tokina to switch their efforts to fe-mount before the field becomes too crowded,

"A Canon EF 600mm f/4 IS II is 17.6" long, where an Olympus 300mm f/4.0 IS Pro is only 8.9" long"

You are comparing apples and oranges. These lenses are not equivalent. An equivalent FF lens is 600mm f/8, and nobody manufactures such lens because there would be little interest. But you can take any of the 300mm f/4 Nikon, or Canon, or Pentax lenses and add 2x teleconverters to them and get equivalent to the Olympus lens. If you do that you'll find out that you end up in the same ballpark regarding size/weight, and in some combinations even smaller/lighter than Olympus. Alternatively, get a high-MP camera and crop output to the same size and you get the same results.